Henhouse (archives)
Photo: Ido Erez
Knesset considers switching to free-range eggs
Speaker Rivlin responds positively to request from animal rights group Anonymous, hopes change can be made soon
Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin is considering banning the use of factory-farmed eggs at the parliament's eateries and instructing them to use free-range and organic eggs instead, as is customary in many parliaments and state institutions around the world, Yedioth Ahronoth reported last week.
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Free-range eggs are more costly than eggs that are laid in battery cages, but the Tel Aviv-based Anonymous organization asked the Knesset speaker to help send a message that the Israeli parliament is also concerned with animal rights.
"Free-range eggs are laid by hens that are not held in small cages their entire lives. The hens are free to roam around," Anonymous said in a letter to Rivlin.
"The other eggs come from battery cages, where hens are confined to small spaces where they cannot even stretch their wings or stand comfortably. Battery-caged hens are sometimes starved in order to increase their egg production," the animal rights group told Rivlin in the letter
The Knesset speaker told Anonymous that he has instructed Dan Landau, the Knesset's director-general, to check whether the change to free-range eggs can be made during the signing of the next contract with the owner of the parliament's eateries.
